31.1.15

In my free time I like to browse the Internet - just for fun. Perhaps I
watch a short movie on YouTube, or I tune into a German television network to
watch the evening news. I like to browse on StumpleUpon, which suggests
random websites based on my interests.

Or I simply have a drink and listen to some tunes.

However, I didn't know that that which in my innocence I considered to
be the Internet makes up only 20 % of all the content that's available.

You read that right, all those giant sites and networks like Google,
Facebook, Twitter, all the media outlets, all that which YOU are familiar with
makes up only twenty percent of available content. The rest is 'hidden' on the
Deep Web.

I find that staggering.

Here are a couple of facts:

General public info on the deep Web is
actually 4 hundred to 5 hundred times larger compared to that which is generally characterized as the World-Wide-Web

The deep Web consists of 6,500 terabytes of
information in comparison to 20 terabytes of information that is
accessible in the surface Web.

The deep Web is made up of closely 550 billion
unique records and documents in contrast to the 1 billion from the surface
Web.

A lot more than 200,000 deep Internet sites
currently are present.

60 of the largest deep-Websites mutually
consist of 750 terabytes of data — enough by themselves in order to
surpass the size of the public Web by 40 times

The Deep Web is actually the largest expanding
division of fresh information on the Internet

Origin

The Deep Web was created originally by the US government . In the
nineties, under President Bill Clinton,security analysts in the White House started to ask themselves how they
could protect government information which was not meant for the general public
from hackers.

They devised a way by which Internet traffic could flow not through
major servers, but through a network of personal computers that participated in
the project.

How does it work?

When you are browsing the Deep Web, your query goes to a random computer
that is part of the network (a 'node'), and is encrypted on the way. From that
computer it goes to another computer, maybe in South Africa, and it gets another
layer of encryption. And off it goes from there maybe to Australia, and is
encrypted once again.

The sum of the encryption is like the layers of an onion, and that's why the
whole network sometimes is called 'the onion network'.

Once your query is at its end-point, it gets decrypted, and you can view
the content anonymously.

The Aspect of Anonymity

You are probably aware that absolutely everything you do on the Internet
is being recorded (at least temporarily) and can be traced back to you, via
your IP address.

That's very handy on the one hand for Government security agencies like
the NSA in the United States, its equivalent in the United Kingdom, the GCHQ,
and security agencies all over the world, like in China or Russia.

But let's just assume that they are not interested in you.

However, the big sites on the Surface Web (that which is commonly, and
wrongly, thought of as THE Internet) are very, very much interested in which
sites you browse, which search terms you use on Google or other search engines.
They are generally interested in you, your habits, your likes and dislikes.

Why is that? Simple, they want to know which advertisements to show you,
because that's where sites like Google and Facebook get their revenue from.
Yes, these sites are all FREE, great! However, for you to use them you have to
at least redefine your definition of privacy.

Let's take this young lady in Ireland who searches innocently for the
term 'pregnancy test'. That information is immediately sold on special sites to
advertisers. It goes, in fact, to the highest bidder, usually those who buy
this kind of information in bulk.

And minutes after this young lady made her search for 'pregnancy test',
she is being shown all kinds of advertising for baby clothes, eBooks on how to
raise a child, how to feed a child, how to keep your child healthy, you name
it.

And it is all done legally. In fact, that's how the Surface Web works.
You and your browsing habits become the target. And make no mistake, they don't
need to know your name or birthday. A whole lot of information about you can be
gotten just by looking on what you do on the Internet.

It works about the same way as if a government agency is tapping a
certain cell phone. They do need a court order for them to listen to the calls.
However, they can simply record the numbers that are being dialed from that
phone, and from which numbers that phone is receivingcalls. And in most countries they do not need
a court order, general legislation takes care of it.

By simply cross-referencing the calls that person makes, at what time
the calls are made, how frequently they are made and from which location, they can
garner lots of information about that individual.

The same with your browsing habits. Again, this is not about the police
or some security agency shadowing you, but multimillion dollar Internet
companies.

The Tor Network

The Tor network, which is one of the portals to the Deep Web, was and
still is used by millions of users who don't want the world to know what they
are doing on the Internet. Think of people like Edward Snowden or the
folks at WikiLeaks. They couldn't do what they are doing by sending
their kinds of documents via Gmail!

And, most importantly, it is being used by activists in countries with
repressive regimes, like China, Russia and Syria. In fact, the Tor Network
played a decisive role during the Arab Spring in 2010.

The activists can't organize themselves and communicate with each other
over Facebook obviously,because that
leaves a trail via their IP address, which the police of the respective country
would be only too happy to follow, with dire consequences for the user. In
countries like Syria, for example, it would mean torture and death.

The Dark Side of the Deep Web

Since it is impossible to trace any activity on the Deep Web, it
contains thousands of sites with a criminal purpose. We are talking here about
sites that show and sell child pornography, for example, and a whole lot of
other unsavory content.

One of them is the Silk Road, where you can buy drugs, hire prostitutes,
buy PayPal accounts with their login details, you name it.

So here my WARNING, if you want to check out the network, and be it just for academic
purposes, there are a lot of sites which YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE.

So don't open them. I have been warned against it and I'm heeding the
warning.

But since I spend a very great deal of my time on the Internet, I felt
that I had to at least check it out.

And I believe we all should at least know what's really going on.

How to access the Deep Web.

First of all, you have to download the Tor browser, which you can do here.

Then you can do a little test. In your normal browser check your IP
address here. The site will give you your IP address and your general
location.

Now copy and paste the site which lets you find your IP address into the
Tor browser. And oops, suddenly you appear to be in Switzerland or Papua New Guinea.

The best known directory for content on the Deep Web is Hidden Wiki

(http://zqktlwi4fecvo6ri.onion/wiki/index.php/Main_Page )

You have to copy and paste that, since it's part of the onion network and doesn't show on the Surface Web.

You will see that browsing the Tor network will remind you of the
beginning of the Internet (if you are old enough, that is). It's pretty slow,
images take their time to load, the sites are pretty basic, without graphics -
it's like taking a time machine back to the beginning of the nineties.

Conclusion

I myself downloaded the browser and had a look around. I wanted to
basically confirm that I'm spending my time in a tiny niche, the Surface Web,
which, again, makes up only twenty percent of generally available content.

But my thirst for information has been stilled, and I'm not using it. I
believe, however, that it is an excellent tool for political activists all over
the world who are risking their lives to bring freedom to their countries.

22.1.15

Passion is something which sometimes
comes out wildly in the form of Wildlife photography. A love for nature
and animals and the courage to adventure in jungles kindles the spark to
go wild and capture those moments which remain unexplored and which may
pose a threat at times if not alert. Wild life photography is also
sending an alarming message to all of us to protect some of these
endangered species. Wildlife photography also proves a milestone in
protecting the wild animals which are becoming extinct due to many
threats by humans such as deforestation, poaching and climatic
conditions. Another important help is, they capture some of the
endangered species and collect those precious details which could save
these animals from the verge of extinction.

A thorough knowledge about the
climatic conditions, moods of the animals and a detailed exposure to the
nitty-gritty of the cameras are the most essentials qualities for a
wild life photographer.

Presented here is such a breath-taking collection of these wild creatures.